Month: March 2008

Brian Stelter of The New York Times, on the future of The Huffington Post, which plans to add sections on sports and books as part of its plan to be an “Internet newspaper.” (I’d also suggest more careful photo editing as noted here.)

The clever site Boing Boing recently published a lengthy but worthwhile post on its comments policy. It’s presented in a helpful Q&A format; just about every question has been anticipated and answered.

Boing Boing moderates comments vigorously. Some are rejected. Others are published but “disemvowelled” — removed of their vowels for being lame.

I’ve allowed anonymous posting since I started this blog in 2006. That changes today. You’ll need to identify yourself. I’ve noticed that the more meaningful comments here and elsewhere online are those with names attached.

My hope is that this will create a more interesting discourse here and a sense of ownership and accountability among those who comment. Perhaps it will also eliminate spam, which has popped up on occasion in the comments.

For the time being, I’m not planning to moderate comments as other editing blogs do. But as Boing Boing notes, all comments policies are subject to change.

Thanks for visiting, and please leave a comment that adds to the conversation and tells us a little bit about who you are. You won’t be disemvowelled.

UPDATE: Some wonder whether this policy amounts to censorship, and if so, whether that’s a hypocritical stance coming from a journalist. Far from it.

A blogger is under the same obligation to publish a comment as a newspaper is to publish a letter to the editor. That is, no obligation. To put it another way, the First Amendment does not require HarperCollins to publish your manuscript for the Great American Novel.

Boing Boing gets the last word: “The people who write and edit Boing Boing have the right to have (or refuse to have) anything they want on their own Web site. If one of the things they don’t want is a comment that you have posted, they aren’t depriving you of your freedom of speech. You’re free to put that comment up on your own Web page.”

Ryan Teague Beckwith, the primary reporter for The News & Observer’s Under the Dome blog, is doing some interesting work on BlueNC, a liberal blog that focuses on North Carolina issues.

Beckwith takes his questions straight to the source in “interviews” for all to see. On this post and comment thread, you can follow the give and take between Beckwith and numerous bloggers who contribute to BlueNC. Topics include “progressive” vs. “liberal,” the definition of “blogger” and BlueNC’s style of news judgment for its “front page.”

You can read the early returns of Beckwith’s reporting at the Dome blog, with a traditional “dead tree” profile to come later in The News & Observer.

UPDATE: That full profile is now in print and online. It’s a good example of how the information gathering and smaller pieces come together for a greater whole.

He didn’t want to be the next blue chip recruit to end up on Tobacco Road. (The Daily Trojan)

RALEIGH, N.C. — Georgetown received the full Tobacco Road treatment here Sunday in its most shocking boot from March Madness in more than 20 years. (Washington Post)

Coach Bob McKillop’s white house across the street still was festooned with toilet paper, which has become a tradition whenever schools down on Tobacco Road win a big game. (Daily News, New York)

On television, announcers such as Jim Nantz of CBS speak of “Tobacco Road” in dramatic tones, assigning some sort of mythic stature to the proceedings on the basketball court. Perhaps that is a reflection of the name’s literary roots.

Tobacco is certainly a significant part of North Carolina’s history, but its influence in the state has been waning for years. Nowadays, it isn’t easy to find a place to smoke on the campus of the state’s flagship university.

Changing times aside, my main problem with “Tobacco Road” is that I have never heard it used in real life. In casual conversation, no one has ever asked me: “Did you see the game last night? That’s how it goes on Tobacco Road.” And believe me, the topic of “the game last night” comes up a lot.

When I asked students in my editing classes this week whether they used “Tobacco Road” in conversation, they gave me puzzled looks and said no. Yet the Wikipedia entry for “Tobacco Road” claims that the term “is often used” in discussions of sports at four North Carolina universities: UNC-Chapel Hill, N.C. State, Duke and Wake Forest. But “often used” by whom?

My hunch is that “Tobacco Road” is to North Carolina what “Big Easy” is to New Orleans: a term used by unwitting visitors and lazy reporters. I therefore nominate it for the list of words (seen here and here) to avoid this tournament season.

UPDATE: John Robinson of the News & Record kindly mentions this post and shares his “Tobacco Road” experience.

The comic strip “Funky Winkerbean” tries to find humor in the headlines this week. A “criminal” misspelling of a proper name in display type serves as the punchline. It’s unclear whether the story had the same error.